An innovative anti-corrosion surface coating to limit or control cathodic current density on structural materials like fasteners, pins, attachment points, and interfaces, commonly constructed from materials like copper-beryllium, CRES (corrosion resistant stainless steel), or titanium, without affecting the mechanical properties or function of the fastener substrate would be beneficial to society.
Additionally, maritime environments promotes corrosion of ship materials due to a high salt concentration (mainly sodium chloride), high electrical conductivity (4.8 Siemens/meter), relatively high and constant pH (7.5 to 8.4), and solubility for gases, of which oxygen and carbon dioxide particularly of high importance in the context of corrosion. The total annual impact cost of corrosion to U.S. shipping industry is currently estimated at $2.7 billion divided between new construction ($1.1 billion), maintenance and repairs ($0.8 billion), and corrosion-related downtime ($0.8 billion).
Recent active research of nanocomposite coatings, hydrophobic coatings and organic-inorganic hybrids have been shown to increase the life of materials prone to oxidation/corrosion. Such cutting edge coatings technologies have the market potential for a wide range of applications such as marine, pipeline, aerospace, automobiles and construction industries.
The discovery of graphene, a two dimensional, one atom thick, sp2 hybridized carbon nanostructure—with its unique characteristics such as chemical inertness, electron transport, thermal and chemical stability, mechanical strength (breaking strength 100× that of steel and stiffness˜1 TPa), high surface area (2630 m2/g), and impermeability to ion diffusion (even light ions like He), have shown it to be one of the strongest candidates for corrosion resistance and protective coatings on metal.